2000 to 2009: Reviews of the decade + Tom Stoppard | The Guardianhttps://www.theguardian.com/world/series/review-of-the-decade+stage/stoppard
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Review of the decade: Michael Billington on theatrehttps://www.theguardian.com/world/2009/dec/08/review-of-the-decade-theatre
From Iraq to New Labour to the state of the railways, people turned to plays to find out what was really going on<p>The defining moment came in May 2000. That was when Peter Boyden, an arts management consultant, published a report making an iron-clad case for increased funding. The Arts Council England picked up the baton, £25m was made available by government, and the results were instantly visible. Regional theatres had their biggest uplift in decades. That, with the emergence of talents like Michael Grandage in Sheffield, Gemma Bodinetz in Liverpool and Rupert Goold in Northampton, meant for once we had a truly national theatre. There have been odd hiccups since: the arts council went doolally in 2008 with a series of arbitrary cuts. But the nub of the noughties was that theatres were able to plan ahead, instead of always being stuck in a backs-to-the-wall crisis.</p><p>The other key moment was also financial: the decision by Nicholas Hytner, on taking over the National in 2003, to launch a £10 ticket scheme. For as long as I could remember, theatre-people had agonised over how to make the medium more accessible. Peter Brook, in a Donmar lecture long ago, supplied the answer: cheap tickets. Hytner proved that was true. In the scheme's first year, a staggering 33% said they were paying their first visit to the National. But the gulf between a £10 National ticket and a £50 stall (plus booking fee) in the West End has grown offensively large.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2009/dec/08/review-of-the-decade-theatre">Continue reading...</a>TheatrePunchdrunkHarold PinterDavid HareTom StoppardMichael FraynMusicalsStageCultureRonald HarwoodPenelope WiltonTue, 08 Dec 2009 22:00:00 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/world/2009/dec/08/review-of-the-decade-theatrePhotograph: Tristram Kenton/GuardianThe news on stage … Guantánamo: Honor Bound to Defend Freedom. Photograph: Tristram KentonPhotograph: Tristram Kenton/GuardianThe news on stage … Guantánamo: Honor Bound to Defend Freedom. Photograph: Tristram KentonMichael Billington2009-12-08T22:00:00Z